'Wife was threatened before her murder'

A man threatened to kill his wife more than a year before he apparently blasted her and their son with a shotgun then turned it on himself, his daughter has revealed.

Laura Pemberton, 19, spoke out for the first time about her parents' stormy marriage leading up to the triple tragedy.

Her mother Julia, 47, was apparently killed by estranged financial consultant husband Alan, 48, in a row at their £1m luxury house in Berkshire.

He then used his 12-gauge shotgun to kill 17-year-old son William in the driveway before shooting himself.

Miss Pemberton survived because she was at Cambridge University at the time of the family massacre on Tuesday.

She has now revealed that her father had moved out following a court injunction for threatening to kill her mother more than a year ago.

In a statement issued through the Catholic Diocese of Portsmouth, Miss Pemberton said: "First of all, I want to say that we were a loving family and words cannot express how I feel or how much I miss them.

"I want to make clear the following: My parents' marriage had been in difficulty for a number of years.

"My father moved out of the house following a court injunction after he threatened to kill my mother. This was over a year ago.

"My mother's diagnosis of cancer and the subsequent successful operation did not play a part in her decision to end the marriage.

"The sale of the house was on the order of the divorce court."

She added: "From the explanation provided by the police it appears that my brother William was killed whilst trying to protect my mother."

The statement came after other relatives said that the row was triggered by Mrs Pemberton saying she wanted a new life and that she had put the house in the leafy village of Hermitage near Newbury on the market.